I’ve never been shackled or in handcuffs thankfully and pray that I never find myself behind bars. Parenting teenagers have made me often joke that if someone sees me in an orange jumpsuit it’s because of my teenage boys. They try my patience and my sanity like nothing else on this earth. Paul’s sanity and patience was probably tried a little bit, too. He was constantly thrown in chains and in prison because of his faith. I am sure it was a lot more awful than we can imagine…chained up, beaten and left in a dark, harsh environment. Confined and restrained like a criminal for the message of Christ.
Lately, I have been having bad dreams that seem to have me bound in fear. They are vivid and wake me up in a panic and feeling paralyzed with panic until reality sets back in and I can distract myself long enough to drift back off to sleep. I usually start my day in quiet time, but tonight I climbed into bed with my Bible before falling asleep in hopes to redirect my subconscious (if that is even possible). I know God has a sense of humor because I went back to 2 Timothy where I was earlier in the week and read in chapter 2:9 where Paul says he suffers for it (the message of Christ) to the point of being bound in chains like a criminal, but God’s message is not bound.
I’m trying to decompress and these are the words that jump out off the pages before I go to sleep?
Prison?
Chains?
Sigh.
I say to myself, “God’s message is not bound.
It is not chained.”
“How is that supposed to help me, Lord?”, I ask myself. As I go back and read the verse before it, it starts with “Keep your attention on Jesus…” and I immediately am reminded that when I focus on Him, everything else is loosed in my life.
I am not bound either.
No matter what happens to me or around me, the message of Christ will continue to go forward. It can try to be squashed by philosophers, scientists and any skeptic out there, but at the end of the day it ALWAYS stands and nothing can stop the work of The Word! When I lean on the words from Genesis to Revelation that are living, active, sharp and free from being hindered by anything on this earth, then I am not bound by the chains of bad dreams, bad choices or bad people.
As a child of God, we must refuse to live bound by the things of this world. We must bind our fears with the words of scripture and keep them tightly in our hearts and minds. When fear creeps in and puts us in dark, confined places in our minds we must redirect our focus and attention on Jesus Christ.
There is freedom in Him.
No chains.
